Daniel Assange: I never thought WikiLeaks would succeed

When Daniel Assange was 16, his father Julian asked him to be a part of WikiLeaks, the controversial group of internet freedom fighters that was then in its infancy. Sceptical of the projectâ€™s likelihood of success, and not on the best of terms with his father, Daniel said no.

“I never thought he was going to succeed,” the younger Assange says, four-and-a-half years later. “It was a ridiculous concept, that he was going to actually leak government documents to the entire world.”

As it turns out, the concept wasnâ€™t so ridiculous. WikiLeaks.com is now one of the most consistently reported on websites in the world, and Julian Assange, the public face of the organisation, has become famous around the globe. However, despite his high profile, very little is known about Assange, the man behind the face.

As his only child, and one of the few people who have been privy to his personal life, Daniel, who has completed a bachelor of science degree and now works for a software design company, understands his father as well as anyone.

“I would say heâ€™s very intelligent and has a lot of the characteristic troubles that are associated with high intelligence,” Daniel says of Assange. “He gets easily frustrated with people who arenâ€™t capable of working up to his level and seeing ideas that he grasps very intuitively.”

Itâ€™s this high level of intelligence, along with a set of other personality traits, that Daniel believes gives his father the intense motivation needed to participate in an operation such as WikiLeaks.

“Heâ€™s always been interested in political activism in general, but heâ€™s also had a great interest in science and philosophy and the general pursuit of knowledge, and the idea that this knowledge should be available to the entire human race,” Daniel says.

“WikiLeaks is the culmination of all these concepts.”

Having grown up in the midst of Assangeâ€™s mysterious world, Daniel believes that his fatherâ€™s best quality as a parent was this desire to share knowledge and discuss it intelligently with his son.

“The one thing I found that I appreciated most was that he wouldnâ€™t treat me like a child when it came to intellectual concepts: he would speak to me as though he were really trying to get me to grasp the fullness of an idea,” Daniel says. “I think that really helped me a lot in realising the nature of reality.”

Despite being the centre of a bitter custody battle between his parents, Danielâ€™s memories of his younger years growing up with his father are mainly positive. However, as Daniel grew older and Assange became more pre-occupied with his own pursuits, the relationship between father and son became more and more strained.

Shortly after asking his son to join WikiLeaks in 2007, Assange left Australia permanently. Since then, the two have had no contact.

Contrary to other reports, however, Daniel insists that there was no specific incident that led to the parting of ways, and holds no hatred towards his father now.

“It was just a general decline of relations,” he says. “I was getting into my late teenage years, and single father and teenage son donâ€™t mix particularly well in one house.

“As for him not contacting me following that, itâ€™s probably at least in part an attempt to protect me,” he says. “If it was known that I was the son and directly involved in some way, there was a likelihood of a direct retaliation, and my father was quite concerned about such things.”

Daniel believes that previous reports of him being “estranged” from his father have sensationalised the issue, and have also misrepresented him in other ways. The most blatant of these was an August 27 article by the New York Post, entitled “My Wiki dadâ€™s just awful with the ladies”.

The article was based around a tongue-in-cheek comment that Daniel posted on a friendâ€™s Facebook page, which said “that man does have a way of making a lot of female enemies”.

“Somehow from this they gathered that I was making some comment on his capacity to interact with women over the entirety of his life, which I think was a bit of a ridiculous jump,” Daniel says.

The New York Post did not interview Daniel or have his consent to use the comment, and mistakenly reported his age as 21, despite the fact that his Facebook profile clearly shows that he is only 20.

Since his father was accused of r-pe in mid-August, interview requests from reporters have been coming thick and fast. So far, Daniel has not commented publicly on the issue, but he has thought about it extensively, and is not convinced that it is a government set-up, as has been suggested in some circles.

“I wouldnâ€™t say itâ€™s an impossibility, but the general feel of the thing is that, because the women involved actually knew my father directlyâ€¦ that suggests to me that itâ€™s more of a personal matter,” he says.

He is, however, unreserved in his belief that his father will be proven innocent.

“I havenâ€™t seen any evidence that there was any actual non-consensual s-x involved at any point, so it looks to me that itâ€™s just some sort of cultural misunderstanding or general social failure on the part of my father or the women thatâ€™s led to the situation,” he says.

As much as Daniel would like the Australian government to step up and offer Assange a greater level of consular assistance, he realises that, in the circumstances, this is not likely. In fact, given the nature of WikiLeaksâ€™ activities, Daniel is grateful that his father is still alive.

“I am very surprised that the governments havenâ€™t actually done what some of the journalists have been recommending, which is to just assassinate him.”

Regardless of what now happens in Assangeâ€™s personal life, Daniel thinks that his work should be remembered as groundbreaking and for the greater good.

“I think heâ€™s been doing an excellent job,” Daniel says.

“His actions as a personal individual and his actions in a grand political sense are completely disconnected things, and they should be considered in that sense.”

Today I watched Dateline that I’d recorded last week? re Julian and Wilileaks, and I was impressed. It’s worth watching. I’m not surprised that there’s this charge of sexual assault against him(Julian); in fact, with the US having Presidential permission to assassinate anyone who’s a “threat” to the US, I’m surprised that he’s still with us. I just hope he uses his intelligence to continue to outsmart his ‘enemies’? I hope that father and son are reunited and have a positive relationship sometime in the future. Good luck to them both!

As long as Daniel, and Julian are able to proceed as individuals through life, I’m sure that they will have more to discuss as the years go by. They are both very interesting men, and will attract a few seedy characters along the way. It helps when they can pace themselves, and not be disrupted by angry tides.

Daniel Assange’s comments should make any father proud of their sons. Daniel seems very matured for his age. Every man makes mistakes in life and we should not hold them accountable or crucified over and over again. Forgiveness is key to a steady and lasting relationship. I hope Daniel and Mr. Assange will continue to stick to each other despite the storms created by accidents in life and I believe there is room to learn for future growth. There is a saysing; “Blood runs thicker than water.”
Even if it does not, we can make it happen by the word “Love and Forgiveness.”

Onya Nick - congratulations - this is a great scoop - for you - and Crikey - and you will feel the ambiguous love of journalistic kudos in the number of Google hits you both get. All guns are trained on WikiLeaks. The Assanguine Chronicles gets curiouser and curiouser and for each piece of the puzzle that is found - another piece is removed. Now that you’ve interviewed the Son, I’d encourage you to interview the Father - and the two Women concerned. It would make a compelling Quartet and a compelling weekend read.

@SINGER - Thanks, I think! You remind me of when my eldest son was about 12 yrs old, and I was mopping the kitchen floor. As usual the 3 boys always wanted something to eat(desperately?) when I wanted a free go. He made some comment about it being ‘women’s work’ and I chased him out the door and up the street(in the middle of the road??-quiet) with the mop-we both were laughing so much we had to stop - so were some of the neighbours??He’s now a good cleaner, cook, laundry person and a hands on lovely dad - seems like the message got through! He and his next (younger) brother(about 9 & 10 then), picked me up chair and all when I wouldn’t move out of the doorway(just joking). I was ironing and trying to get a breeze???I hope I have a good sense of humour, for an “old duck”???
Seriously though, I think young people(majority) these days are great! They are articulate and capable and in many cases like Daniel, they’re very mature as well. I’d like to have a cup of coffee and a chat with him.
@TESS Lawrence - The interview on Dateline is good, and apparently there’s an earlier one as well. Should be able to track them down on the web site. I admire Julian. It’s a shame that what he’s doing is necessary. Maybe people will now realize, that msm just feed us bs all the time. Only when the truth is glaring and can’t be avoided any longer; or some brave person ‘blows the lid’ like the lies over the ‘wars’ and Abu Graib for example, do people question msm! I avoid them wherever possible - can’t stand the crap any more!

I have to agree with nearly everyone else here that when a journalist takes their time, gets Julian’s son to talk honestly, what we find out is that all the attempts to smear Julian are reprehensible and false.

I get the feeling this article came out on the kind of day when Julian could have really used it, making it all the better.

I wish Crikey reached the entire world and as well Australia in particular. I just got the best news somewhat that WikiLeaks founder ‘free to leave Sweden’ and it is on Wikileak site.

I took a keen interest in Wikileak and Mr. Assange’s ordeal with Sweden, because I was quite disturbed at the atrocities after 9/11 and the Iraq war. For ten years, not one soul was critical about the war the way Assange exposed, but rather paying lip service on bringing the troops back home. It is now that Assange has dropped those tiny paper b*mbs; that the right-wing in the U.S. woke up from their slumber. They cannot make up their mind whether to go on with the war or stop it. They have become double-minded and God has no pleasure in such people. If these folks find that Assange and people like him are dedicated to one and only cause, then they call them radicals and/or traitors, lol.

I think I am the only one who defended Assange in the U.S and in the Swedish blog (they asked me literally to open my own website, cheeky!), because one I had lost an older brother at the age of 35 who was a brilliant Master’s in Engineering in a boat accident abroad while on duty and decided to support all the men who are in trouble from now on. It doesn’t hurt, but can put a smile on them. I am very pleased that Assange will be able to travel and for goodness sake, he needs to leave that bloody sex sport country of Sweden forever!!! Sex is a sport for them where they have silly rules. Give me a break! Although, I am a conservative, I still believe that Sweden went too far and Assange has grown 10 years older.

@LIZ45
Thanks for this Liz. The Dateline team does some fab groundbreaking work and
consistently secures exclusive interviews in the most extraordinary of circumstances. But few people/other print/electronic media seem to notice or care, including SBS News itself, that is so reliant on syndicated newsfeeds and yet it seems to ignore footage/interviews/reportage shot by Dateline’s courageous video journalists - often more incisive and more in-depth - and certainly, much less processed than pre-packaged news. Some of Dateline’s stories and documentary segments would certainly warrant Front Page headlines and solid news/feature stories. It wouldn’t take much to implement better communications between programs, programming, news and current affairs, so that more of the content of Dateline and other fine programs reached the wider community. Journalism should be a craft without borders - but there is much to be said for assigning Australian-based reporters to bear witness and comment on international affairs for us. It’s all about hearing different and differing voices
and opinions is it not ? I think you’re a bit hard on msm. And I don’t think it just feeds us bs all the time. It is, like any other form of media, the instrument of its perpetrators and collaborators, and is thus accompanied by all the inherent and acquired prejudice of its time and circumstance.

@TESS LAWRENCE - You’re right about Dateline. 4 Corners has some good solid investigative journalism too-for instance, tomorrow night is about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France in New Zealand - a real terrorist attack, but I bet you that msm won’t have a word about it. It didn’t have any real news items at the time, just sensationalist ‘grabs’ that’s all. I receive a Newletter each day from Information Clearing House that publish essays, news items from such people as Gore Vidal, John Pilger, Norm Chomsky and the Seymour Hirsch etc. You rarely see or hear msm take up these peoples’ informative or challenging reporting. Australia is about 65 on the 100 list of fair and accurate reporting. Why don’t our news outlets print John Pilger’s articles or show his documentaries, many of which have received a myriad of accolades and rewards over 40+ years. I saw Tony Jones, Lateline do an interview with him a couple of years ago, and he was scathing to downright rude - I still have it?

If I want to know the truth about what’s happening re indigenous health and the oppressive Intervention, I go to the National Indigenous Times or GreenLeft, or Crikey, as msm always portray aboriginal people in a negative and freqently racist manner. Why? The same reason/s as they portray women’s issues, including equal pay for example. Those who own the msm outlets receive monetary gain by the sexist and racist society in which we live. Want an indepth and informative account of what’s really going on? I don’t waste time on channels 7, 9 or 10 for example, they just make me angry and frustrated. They fill up their newshour with such important ‘grabs’ like Paris Hilton’s latest escapade or some such trivia - I’m not interested and that’s not what I watch the news for. However, I must say, that the ABC (TV news particularly)is not beyond editorialising the news - I want the facts, not smart headlines.

There’s some great documentaries on http://www.freedocumentaries.org and today I’m again on the website of Riverbend, the young woman from Iraq who started her blog prior to the invasion in 2003 - that’s a good place to know what our presence is doing and has done. I don’t find out about the struggles of the people, particularly women and kids from our media. I go on the website of http://www.rawa.org and read articles from other media outlets and books by Afghans, such as Malalai Joya, a young woman who speaks out about what’s happening to her country and her people, so much so, that she has to move daily to avoid being assassinated. Her informative book is ‘Raising my Voice’? A brave young woman who loves her country and its people - apart from the drug barons, rapists, and murderers, many of whom are in the govt? Sally Sara on ABC, dressed in her colour co-ordinated outfits and head scarf tell us what the US and Australian govts want us to know - not the real truth!

A good example of the ‘selection process’ of msm including the ABC. When the last national wage increase for those on low incomes was implemented, the Employers Group in NSW went to the Industrial Relations Court to object to the community sector workers receiving the increase- the majority of whom are women. They won. These workers are the only people in Australia who didn’t receive the increase. Didn’t find that out via msm. I went to the Equal Pay rally at Sydney Town Hall on June 10 to find out about that piece of discrimination. This organisation in NSW has a chest of money in order to fight the Equal Pay case? Try ringing channel 9 about that little gem and see how interested they are? Or watch them do an indepth interview with the boss of that organisation who’ll plead their case and scream ‘poor mouth’ of the employers. It’s appalling, but just one small example that effects thousands of mostly women workers!

If I could be bothered, I’d watch these msm news each day and write down the topics and ‘important’ issues that they deal with or report on. Don’t get me started on their so-called ‘current affairs’ programs. Usually ‘belting up’ sole parents or the low waged or unemployed or like people. Don’t expect them to do an expose on the billionaires who don’t pay tax or pay insufficient tax though! This is just a taste of their so-called journalism!

@LIZ45
You make a number of salient points, no question - but when it comes to Sally Sara and other reporters who are on the frontline on our behalf - please remember that on a daily basis they risk their lives - and they are not always embedded with coalition forces. Often, they are interviewing vulnerable civilians and attending scenes of absolute carnage and human suffering. One minute they’re covering the floods in Pakistan - the next minute they’re dispatched to Afghanistan. It’s not as easy as catching the tram to Spring St. Myki or no ki. Every step could be their last. Travel logistics are a nightmare and I’m pretty sure that Sally isn’t provided with a wardrobe consultant by the ABC. If there is any colour co-ordination in the background tableaux of their ‘to camera ’ reports on the IED Catwalk, you’ll see that the dead and wounded are wearing Poppy Red; it’s the old new Black. High St labels, Taliban and Al-Qaeda continue to recruit new fans.

There’s an interesting thread I’ve been following since the first news broke of the rape allegations against Assange in Sweden. I think it’s been referred to here, and, yes, at times it does get bogged down with rants about the state of feminism and politics in Sweden and so forth, and there’s some fairly seamy speculation about ‘what really happened’, but, overall, it seems to be objective, thoughtful, balanced and intelligent. Also funny, which is needed more every day as this thing drags on and on. It’s the one I go to for updates and in-depth detail of the Swedish system in my attempt to gain any kind of balanced perspective on this curious and horrifying case. Not only is the most rational - overall - discussion I’ve encountered, there are a number of Swedes contributing to it who explain very well, in English, the convoluted Swedish legal and political systems. It’s here: http://nicholasmead.com/2010/08/21/how-to-smear-a-hero/#comment-1551